Month: November 2016

Thank you Karalee from Tales of Belle for nominating me this award! Although I personally feel this sort of post is more of a tag, (I love tags!) it is nonetheless a fun way for other bloggers and new readers alike to get to know me better. *grins*

The Rules

Share the link of the blogger who has shown love to you by nominating you.

Answer the questions.

In the spirit of sharing love and solidarity with our blogging family, nominate 5-10 people for the same award.

Ask them 3 questions.

So here are the three questions asked by Karalee:

What are 3 items on your bucket list?

| Travel to Poland & the UK to meet my blogger friends I’ve known since 2009. | Teach English to young learners, voluntarily in a foreign country. | Have a family business with my siblings, big or small.|

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I’ve never blogged about food, have I? So congrats tempeh for being the star of the first ever food post in Mascaras & Motherhood! Tempeh (pronounced as “temp-pei”) which is widely available and beloved in Indonesia and Malaysia is a soy-based food. Here’s how the nutrition-lovers at Time describes tempeh:

Tempeh is a cake of partially cooked whole soybeans aged overnight in an incubator at a tropical temperature, explains vegan food manufacturer Tofurky on its website. During incubation, a “thick, white mat of mycelia”—a kind of fungus—branches over the tempeh, which binds the beans together. It’s then steamed and ready to eat.

In addition, the fermentation process of tempeh translates to the soy-protein of tempeh being easily digestible. In other words; tempeh is rich is probiotics, and probitics are good for the tummy.

All right, obviously I’m no nutrition expert. The reason I’m talking about tempeh here is because during my personal experience with my daughter Aida, tempeh as well as other probiotics-rich food helps in healing her eczema.Believe it or nor, eczema and digestive problem do come hand in hand. As her eczema worsened, her medication intake increased. And sooner, she had trouble every time she had to poo. Despite addressing this to her dermatologist back then, no specific solution was suggested for her constipation. Yes, I’ve tried forcing her to drink as much water as possible and yes, papayas were shoved to her mouth often. Still, she struggled and even dreaded when poo-poo time came. It breaks my heart to see her suffered doing what is supposed to be a very basic thing a human does on a daily basis.

It was after we tried something different that I learned about probiotics, prebiotics and fermented food. I might discuss the two Ps in the future but now let’s get back to tempeh. Firstly, tempeh is very cheap. It is also usually sold in any supermarkets and grocery shops. Malaysians love having their tempehs battered or deep-fried but please note that this means you won’t get the maximum of the nutrients a raw piece of tempeh cake can offer. Personally, I like tempeh both deep fried and raw. Aida on the other hand, as she was still so small when I first introduced tempeh to her, I either deep fry of grill her tempeh. My, does she loves tempeh! It’s her go to snack. It turns out, having food allergies does have a blessing; she snacks on healthy tempeh instead of highly-processed chocolates or candies.

Have you eaten tempeh before? How do you have your tempeh? Please share you thoughts in the comment section. Till then,

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As I’m bouncing back from two-year-makeup hiatus, I’ve been trying out affordable products from drugstores because, monthly visit to SEPHORA is way impractical. Since Silkygirl products are dirt-cheap and always come with great discounts, I picked up this Shimmer Duo Blusher from a Silkygirl section in my neighbourhood Watsons.

Left: highlighter Right: blusher

Available in four shades, this one is Rose Petal; a rosy colour with slight shimmer. I had no idea that these duo blusher is half highlighter (on the left) and half blusher (on the right). Rather, I had been using this as a regular blusher for a month until I knew about this, whoops! But with only 4 grams of product, that means each highlighter and blusher is only 2g each. That’s a very little amount of pink particles if you ask me. Moreover, I’m too impatient to meticulously sweep half of this pan and then another half, every time I use it.

Speaking of sweep however, I love how Shimmer Duo Blusher comes with a mini brush which is placed in a separate compartment underneath the blusher pan. That’s systematic and more hygienic. Not to mention travel-friendly too. As much as I love the soft brush, I prefer using my current favourite blusher brush , so this cutesy brush is now my daughter’s toy brush for her dolls.

In a nutshell, this is a decent blusher if you are looking for an affordable (priced between RM21-RM28,even cheaper when on sale) blusher that’s slightly pigmented and easy to be carried around, without having to bring along a blusher brush.

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We hate products we love go to waste, don’t we? Especially when said products are expensive. At least that is what I feel. Take a look at this Moogoo Irritable Skin Balm for example; pre-GST era it used to be RM69 a tube. That is already expensive for a barely 200ml cream, especially when used daily. However, since 6% of GST was imposed in April ’15, Moogoo ISB is now RM79. That’s exactly ten Ringgit extra. I remember how the local eczema community were feeling the pinch over this dreaded price hike on almost every possible product. Thank God for natural & much cheaper alternatives, which I might be talking about in my future posts.

Back to the topic, this eczema-friendly and soothing cream is housed in a plastic tube that can easily be cut. Just make sure to sanitize the scissors prior to cutting the tube. I usually start cutting the top part and scoop up every nook and cranny of the inside of the tube. Next, I cut off the centre of the tube so that I get both the centre and the bottom of the inside of the tube. When every milimetre of the product has been completely wiped clean, then only I toss those empty plastic pieces into a dustbin.

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How come it’s already November? Too much iflix binging coupled with workload make October went by so fast for me. Oh, last month was also the month I caught up with old friends; from good ol’ schoolmates to my best friend from college. Regular meet ups with friends is getting more and more impossible as we grow up. Please say you feel the same way too, or else I’ll feel like I’m the most pathetic friend on earth!

Anyways, here are a couple of pictures before I end this post. I hope November treats you well. Till then,

Lunch with friends at Tony Roma’s. It was my first time here and since I brought along my daugther, I ordered this Mojo Chicken so that she could share the rice and chicken, which neither are her allergens.The Internet has a creepy way of luring you back to your past. A Photobucket email sent to an abandoned email was what got me into this photo. It was taken ten years ago. TEN years! The British girl on the left in Sakina; a friend I met on Crunchyroll. Yep, before iflix binging, I used to anime-binge on Youtube & Crunchyroll. Sakina was also an anime fan and coincidently had her holiday in Malaysia in 2006. Unfortunately, we both lost contact. I wish her well though.